No drought but ‘abnormally dry’ conditions spread in NY
Photo by Tom Rivers: The yellow grass on the lawn of the Orleans County Courthouse in Albion is shown on Wednesday.
Orleans County isn’t officially in a drought, despite sparse rain in the past month and scorching temperatures.
The U.S. Drought Monitor every Thursday morning updates the intensity of drought around the country. Orleans has been listed as “abnormally dry” in recent weeks and continues at that designation.
No where in the state is considered to be in a drought, even at the moderate level. Click here to see the map.
However, the abnormally dry conditions spread in New York State, from 9.9 percent of the land mass in the state last week to 23.1 percent in today’s map.
In the U.S., there are drought conditions out west and southern Florida.
Map from U.S. Drought Monitor: The areas in yellow are considered abnormally dry. In WNY, the abnormally dry conditions include Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming, Monroe, Niagara and most of Erie counties.
